These days, hundreds of Texas pediatric dentists spend their days counseling parents about the importance of taking care of their young children’s teeth. Can Florida's troubled Medicaid dental program emulate Texas' success?
Healthcare Systems & Policy
In Florida's Manatee County, the lack of dental care was creating a crisis for children, and the chief witnesses were school nurses. In response, the county's health and education leaders have started working together to get kids into the dental chair.
After New York State started publicly reporting mortality rates for cardiac surgery, some poor performing surgeons stopped practicing or left the state and mortality rates dropped. What do journalists and policy thinkers need to know about similar efforts nationwide?
Keriana Carll cries in pain nearly every day. Her mouth hurts. The 4-year-old has such severe dental disease that she had to get her front tooth pulled. But no dentist in Florida's Sarasota or Manatee County was willing to treat her.
In covering the health care workforce beat, just reporting a simple number detailing the size of provider shortages or surpluses can be very misleading, explains researcher Susan Skillman in this tip sheet.
Only two of 103 listings were accurate, according to a Sarasota Herald-Tribune survey.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott vetoed a universally-supported bill to bring dentists to underserved communities last year, despite the strong need for more dental care providers.
Local communities and the federal government prioritize dental care, but Florida's state agencies don't have much to offer, according to a special series in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
In Florida dental practices serving lots of Medicaid patients, parents are often barred from appointments.
Zika has become the biggest health story of the summer, and the volume of coverage reflects that. But some of the most interesting reporting has started to focus on the longer-term effects of the virus on children.